With the state’s economy in pandemic-induced freefall, missed rent payments are piling up for California tenants and landlords. While no one knows exactly how much California renters are falling short each month, the need for emergency assistance is potentially massive — think billions, not millions.

Tenant groups are organizing rent strikes, demanding Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers cancel rents and mortgages while shelter in place orders are still in effect. Landlords are pleading with the state and federal government for dollars as their monthly mortgage payments come due.

On this episode of Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast, CalMatters’ Matt Levin and the Los Angeles Times’ Liam Dillon chat with Patricia Mendoza, an Imperial Beach mother who lost her job and has not paid rent the past two months, and Evelyn Garcia, whose family owns a rent-controlled apartment complex in South L.A.